In a series of interrelated investigations (02132, 02133, 00273, 00275, and 02145) children's emotional development and the influences of various affective dimensions of rearing conditions on this development have been the subject of study. This project is the initial study of this program of research. Its focus is on children's responses to emotional distress in another person. Children are studied longitudinally in the second and third years of life. Mothers were trained to observe and report distress incidents in the natural enviroment of the child. Simulated distress incidents (by mother and by investigator) were also used. An initial sample of 24 families and a replication sample of 20 families have been studied longitudinally for nine months. Developmental stages in responding to distress are identified between 10 and 24 months. Individual patterning in ways of responding to others' distress is evident by the end of the second year.